Windsor combines royal history with riverside walks, cafés, traditional pubs, restaurants and a lively shopping centre. Whether you are visiting Windsor Castle for the day or spending a weekend in Berkshire, you can make a day of exploring the town on foot.

Where can you eat in Windsor?

There is a broad choice, from quick coffees and casual lunches to pub meals and French-inspired brasserie dishes. Here are some places to consider; check the restaurant’s own menu before travelling because dishes and prices can change.

The Boatman — riverside pub dining

Where: 10 Thames Side, Windsor, SL4 1QN. The Boatman sits beside the River Thames near Eton Bridge, making it a good option for a meal with a riverside setting. Browse its current menu and booking details before you go.

Visit The Boatman’s website.

Côte Brasserie — French-inspired favourites

Where: Windsor town centre. Côte serves French brasserie dishes, with options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Recent published menu listings give examples such as olives at around £4.50, baguette at £3.50, baked Camembert at about £9.95, and main courses such as a Côte burger around £17.50 or beef bourguignon around £24. These are indicative menu prices, not a guarantee of today’s prices; check the restaurant’s live menu.

Check Côte Windsor’s official menu.

The Two Brewers — a historic pub

Where: 34 Park Street, Windsor, SL4 1LB, near the Long Walk. This traditional pub is a useful stop before or after a walk toward the Castle. Check the pub for its current food service and menu.

More choices around town

• Thames Street and the riverside: pubs, restaurants and cafés, with some venues overlooking the river.
• Windsor Royal: cafés and places to eat alongside shops in the restored railway-station setting.
• High Street and Peascod Street: handy for coffee, lunch and a break between sightseeing.

The official visitor guide has a broader directory of places to eat and drink: Visit Windsor — Eat & Drink.

What might a meal cost?

As a rough planning guide, a coffee or light snack will usually cost less than a full restaurant meal. At a brasserie such as Côte, published menu examples include starters and sharing dishes around £4.50–£13.50 and main courses around £16.50–£24. A two-course meal with a drink can cost more, and riverside views, weekends and special events may affect demand. Treat these figures as examples, not a complete price list.

Money-saving tip: Look at lunch or set menus, check children’s menus if travelling as a family, and review the menu online before sitting down. Prices, service charges and availability can change.

Popular places to shop

Windsor Royal

Set in a restored Victorian railway station, Windsor Royal is one of the town’s best-known shopping destinations. It mixes cafés with fashion, gifts, beauty and lifestyle shops. The current directory includes names such as H&M, Hobbs, Mint Velvet, Swarovski, Oliver Bonas, MINISO and other specialist retailers.

Browse the Windsor Royal shop directory.

Peascod Street

This central shopping street has familiar high-street stores and is easy to combine with a visit to the Castle. It is a useful place to look for clothing, everyday shopping and bookshops.

High Street, Thames Street and the Castle area

These streets are good for royal souvenirs, gifts, jewellery, specialist shops and independent businesses. If you want a keepsake, look for Windsor-themed gifts and products inspired by the Royal Family and the Castle.

Independent shops and local finds

Venture beyond the busiest central stretch to find independent retailers, homeware, florists, food shops and vintage items. The official tourism website provides an updated overview of shopping in the area: Visit Windsor — Shopping.

How many visitors come to Windsor each day?

There is no single daily count that represents everyone visiting the whole town: figures for Windsor Castle, Windsor Great Park and the wider Royal Borough measure different places and may use different methods.

• Windsor Castle: the Royal Collection Trust says nearly 1.5 million people visit each year. Dividing that annual figure by 365 gives an average of roughly 4,100 visits a day. This is a simple annual average, not a live daily count; actual numbers vary by season, opening days and events.
• Windsor Great Park: the estate reports around 5.5 million visitors a year—roughly 15,000 a day when averaged across 365 days. This is for the Great Park, not Windsor town or the Castle.
• The wider Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead: the council’s published 2021/22 tourism study recorded 12.73 million trips, including 12.19 million day trips and 0.54 million overnight visits. That covers the wider borough and an earlier reporting period, not Windsor town alone.

These figures should not be added together: the locations and measurement periods differ, and some visitors may visit more than one attraction. For a sensible headline, Windsor Castle itself receives nearly 1.5 million visits a year, equivalent to about 4,100 per calendar day on average.

Plan a royal day out

Start with Windsor Castle, then walk down Peascod Street for shopping, pause for lunch or coffee, and finish with a stroll along the Thames or toward the Long Walk. If you are visiting on a busy weekend or during a major event, book a restaurant ahead and check attraction opening times.

Official Windsor Castle visitor information · Tourism statistics from Visit Windsor.

Sources and price note

• Côte Brasserie Windsor — official restaurant page and menu
• Visit Windsor — places to eat and drink
• Visit Windsor — shopping guide
• Windsor Royal — current shop directory
• Royal Collection Trust — Windsor Castle visitor information
• Visit Windsor — tourism statistics for the Royal Borough
• Windsor Great Park — visitor and sustainability information

Editorial note: Menu prices are examples from published listings checked in October 2026 and may change. Confirm prices directly with each venue before visiting. Annual visitor figures are averages for context, not real-time daily attendance.

Copyright © 2026 Simon Ben Gemmill — WindsorCastle.info.

By Simon Ben Gemmill

A concept for combining renewable energy with careful, multi-stage water treatment to support cleaner rivers, coasts and resilient local water supplies across the British Isles.

A vision for cleaner water

Water is essential to every community, and protecting it begins with healthy catchments, cleaner rivers and coastlines, and treatment systems designed for the water they receive. The idea shown in the accompanying illustration is to bring together water intake, renewable electricity, filtration, disinfection, storage and continuous quality monitoring in one coordinated system.

This is a design concept rather than a tested engineering proposal. A real installation would need a site-specific assessment of water source, flow, head, ecology, flood risk, energy yield, treatment requirements, planning and environmental permissions.

“It is always better to protect water from contamination than to treat it after it has been contaminated.”

— Summary of the source-protection principle described by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), Manual on Treatment for Small Water Supply Systems.

Eight stages from intake to monitoring

1. Water intake

A screened intake can reduce the entry of leaves and larger debris.

{"id":"01","name":"WATER INTAKE","cost":900,"min_kw":0.05,"use_kw":0.30,"gen_kw":0.0}
Equation: P = V x I; pump energy = kW x hours

The intake must be designed to protect aquatic life and avoid damaging habitats, while abstraction must comply with the relevant local rules and permissions.

2. Hydro turbine

Where a suitable, lawful water flow and elevation difference exist, a small hydro turbine may recover some energy. Output depends on flow, head and efficiency; a turbine does not create energy from nothing, and pumping water uphill can use more energy than is later recovered.

{"id":"02","name":"HYDRO TURBINE","cost":3000,"min_kw":0.0,"use_kw":0.10,"gen_kw":1.0}
Equation: P(kW) = 9.81 x Q x H x efficiency / 1000

3. Solar photovoltaic panels

Solar PV can supply electricity for pumps, sensors and control equipment when sunlight is available. Actual generation depends on panel capacity, orientation, weather, season and system losses; batteries or grid backup may be needed.

{"id":"03","name":"SOLAR PV","cost":1900,"min_kw":0.0,"use_kw":0.025,"gen_kw":1.0}
Equation: Energy(kWh) = panel kW x sun hours x yield

4. Solar heating

Solar thermal collectors can provide heat for suitable processes, but heat is not a substitute for a validated disinfection process. The plant should use thermal energy only where the treatment design calls for it.

{"id":"04","name":"SOLAR HEATING","cost":900,"min_kw":0.0,"use_kw":0.05,"gen_kw":0.0}
Equation: Heat(kWh-th) = collector area x solar input x efficiency

5. Sediment and activated-carbon filtration

Pre-filtration can remove suspended particles, while activated carbon can reduce certain chemicals, tastes and odours. No single filter removes every contaminant, and media must be selected and replaced based on testing and manufacturer guidance.

{"id":"05","name":"SEDIMENT / CARBON","cost":350,"min_kw":0.0,"use_kw":0.05,"gen_kw":0.0}
Equation: Filter load = pressure drop x flow / efficiency

6. Purification and UV disinfection

Ultraviolet treatment can inactivate susceptible microorganisms when the water and equipment meet the required operating conditions. UV does not remove all dissolved chemicals and generally leaves no lasting disinfectant residual, so a qualified designer must determine whether additional treatment is needed.

{"id":"06","name":"PURIFICATION / UV","cost":1150,"min_kw":0.02,"use_kw":0.25,"gen_kw":0.0}
Equation: E(kWh) = treatment power x treatment hours

7. Storage and controls

Covered, hygienic storage can balance supply and demand. Sensors, alarms and maintenance records help operators detect faults and keep treatment stages working within their validated limits.

{"id":"07","name":"STORAGE / CONTROLS","cost":1500,"min_kw":0.0,"use_kw":0.10,"gen_kw":0.0}
Equation: Battery energy(kWh) = voltage x Ah / 1000

8. Water-quality monitoring

Monitoring may include turbidity, pH, flow and other parameters selected by a water-quality specialist. Laboratory analysis and ongoing compliance checks are essential: a display reading alone cannot certify water as safe to drink.

{"id":"08","name":"WATER QUALITY","cost":600,"min_kw":0.005,"use_kw":0.05,"gen_kw":0.0}
Equation: Daily energy(kWh) = sensor power x hours

What do the illustrative figures mean?

The accompanying concept graphic uses an illustrative equipment-cost total of £10,300 and a combined typical electrical use of about 0.925 kW for the listed loads. At eight hours, that is approximately 7.40 kWh per day; at an assumed electricity price of £0.25/kWh, the simple energy-cost estimate is £1.85 per day.

These are arithmetic examples based on the supplied figures, not supplier quotations or a feasibility study. The original Python settings and process table are reproduced in relevant excerpts below so readers can inspect the assumptions. The estimated 1,000 litres per day is a target, not a proven output. Likewise, the listed hydro and solar “maximum generation” figures should not be added as guaranteed continuous output: solar output varies, and hydro output depends on measured site conditions. A proper design must balance generation, storage, demand and treatment reliability.

Protecting the British Isles’ water environment

A plant should complement—not replace—catchment protection, pollution prevention, responsible abstraction and established public water services. Any scheme proposing to supply drinking water must meet applicable drinking-water standards and be designed, validated and operated by competent professionals. In England, relevant permissions may include abstraction and environmental permits, depending on the project.

“Effective treatment … does not rely on one key stage.”

— The multi-barrier approach described in the Drinking Water Inspectorate Treatment Guide.

Sources and further reading

• Water UK — Drinking water: overview of UK drinking-water sources, treatment and monitoring.
• Drinking Water Inspectorate — Treatment Guide: treatment selection and the multi-barrier approach.
• Drinking Water Inspectorate — Manual on Treatment for Small Water Supply Systems: source protection, treatment stages and the need for site assessment.
• Environment Agency — Water recycling for public water supply: resilience, regulation and environmental considerations.

Editorial note: This article describes an illustrative concept for public discussion. Costs, energy ratings and daily water target are estimates supplied for the concept and have not been independently verified. It is not a construction specification or confirmation that treated water is potable.

Copyright © Simon Ben Gemmill. All rights reserved.